Disastrous Nile Cruise ruined with illness

Ponkle22

Oh what a horrible experience. I've had dysentry in Africa before and its worse than I could have ever imagined, so you have my sympathy. I couldn't even walk the few steps to the toilet. The stomach pain was horrendous and the resultant dehydration was horrible - I was just crying for water - as soon as I finished one bottle I was begging for another. I seem to remember suffering for months after I returned. It kept waxing and waning.

If I were you I would take the advice given above and try another stool sample - it could still be in your system and it would be dated so you could prove it was x amount of days since your cruise.

Because of suffering as I described above I've always been fearful to go on a cruise - I couldnt bear to go through it again but confined to a wobbly boat. Its all too common on cruise trips, unfortunately. It shouldn't be dealt with as a quick pay off by the holiday company - it should be fully investigated to stop it happening to other people. You won't be the first people on that boat to get ill.

Hope you all feel better soon.

Ponkle22

Ponkle22

Agree with DavidLizard - Rice is one of the worst things to eat, for all the reasons David gives. Avoid at all costs.

Deals_2

not a country i usually recommend for travel...though nice to see the history!!!

oliveoil54 wrote: »

Anyone advise?

Returned from Cosmos Nile Cruise begining of September. 16 people in British party onboard, 11 had some form diarrhoea & stomach cramps, 6 of whom incl my 24yr daughter were seriously ill, high fever, uncontrollable shaking, projectile vomit, severe stomach cramps & v. bad diarrhoea. Arrive onboard mon evening, worst affected all went down approx together on Thurs afternoon/evening. Most virtually confined to cabin until Sun. Immodium useless, couldnt get treatment till Sat afternoon got Antinal from pharmacy in Luxor. There was no member of staff onboard with any medical training, the only Rep onboard was the Egyptologist no Cosmos reps as on other boats.

We saw crew members of a sister ship next to our boat out on the crew deck chopping vegetables & also found that veg was stored in various places around boat, incl engine room & wheel house/room - also where crew slept. Restaurant was clean & staff good, though food not so good, think they may have re-cycled unused meats from previous days covered in another sauce, but cant prove this.

Last 3 days moored in Luxor in middle of 10/12 boats, with other boats surrounding - all with engines running 24 hrs, being a much smaller boat our sun & pool deck was 1 and 2 stories lower than surrounding boats - diesel fumes on sun & especially pool deck were awful. Couldnt open cabin curtains or windows as boats jammed up so tight to next one. The noise from all the engines made sleep v difficult.

Even after return we still had some stomach cramps and diarrhoea. 6 worst affected passengers incl myself and daughter, decided to complain to Cosmos. However unaware of the correct procedure in claims like this only one of us sent in a proper stool sample, which was confirmed with Shigella (dysentry). This is the only correct sample from the group, others were not admissable as not in correct bottle, & the samples were thrown away. It is now too late to provide further samples as we are now all ok.

As my daughter & I were not on the same table as the 4 other complainents, & had v little to do with them in the first 3.5 days of the holiday, it is unlikely that we spread the bacteria ourselves, especially as we had been warned about observing scrupulous cleanliness ie using anti-bacterial gel & handwipes on all occasions, only using bottled water provided onboard etc. Also as the worst affected went down almost simultaneously, our conclusion is that the bacteria was spread from crew members handling food that we ate.

We have not as yet received a reply from Cosmos as to how they intend to deal with our complaints as they are concluding their own investigation.

However, having read various posts similar to this on other forums, it may require us to take further action. One member of the group has been approached by Irwin Mitchell Law firm with regard to taking on all our cases. But I am not sure that this is the best way to go, especially as we haven't heard from Cosmos yet.

Should we have to, does anyone think we have enough of a claim to take this further & would the option of taking it to a small claims court be a better way forward. If so what would the costs be & also could we claim as a group? I think the total claim would probably be the cost of the combined holiday which would be approx £3000 to £4000 for the 6 of us.

Any advice would be welcome?

givememoney

davidlizard wrote: »

Making sure the food is hot is always a good tip - when in Egypt I ate mostly off stalls in the streets - I could see the food being cooked, so could see that it was cooked properly, and a large number of locals eating there would minimise the chance of food handing around for too long. I had no problems.

This reminds me of a work college and her trip to India.

She and hubby-to-be were queing at a food stall which sold something, I cannot remember what, but it needed coating in batter then frying.

She watched in horror as a rat ran across the counter top, fell into the vat of batter, surfaced, swam across to the side, clambered out and ran off. :eek:

She was on a year long sabitical and had learnt not to be picky when it came to food, but even she couldn't bring herself to eat from this diner after that.

oliveoil54

Whilst in Egypt especially from the cruise boats, you are pestered every 5 minutes to buy things from the street traders & market stalls. Also usually your guide takes a cut of anything he recommends.

Most of what you are sold can be rip off if your not careful.
I bought spices from a 'reputable' trader recommended by our guide in Aswan market. On closer examination when I got home the dried ginger was like brick dust & didnt have a great deal of smell (the ones they showed us on the market stall smelt lovely). The mixed red, green,black & white peppers which are quite expensive to buy in the UK - the red & green peppers were actually white peppercorns which had just been dyed but with what? Had to bin the lot! The only thing that was worth it was the whole nutmeg - as I dont think there was much they could do to aldulterate that. Also def stay clear of saffron - we got the same talk from our guide about disreputable traders using other spices, leaves, stems to look like saffron but their 'real' stuff was really quite expensive. One of our group bought some & she emailed me back home to say that when she had used it her rice had gone bright pink! So be warned you rarely get a bargain!

maggie111

davidlizard wrote: »

Fully agree - if you have some kind of bug, then the last thing you want to do is keep it inside you. Immodium should only be used as a last resort - for example flights. My wife took immodium when we were in India and was very bad for this reason (according to our doctor) - a simple case of a gippy tummy ended up as something much worse.

This is simply not true. Always had a similar view until I discussed it with a friend in the medical profession:

"I am a firm beleiver in immodium and oral rehydration salts. The pooing wont help get rid of the infection, its simply a side effect. Your bowel cells stop absorbing water and thats why you end up with runny poo. Thats how people die of dehydration when they get these bugs and also drinking water is the worst thing you can do when you have diarrhea. Your body cant absorb water without sugar and salt."

oliveoil54

Speaking from experience - immodium was totaly ineffective. Antinal was the only thing that helped improve the situation. Also took re-hydration salts which were basically v salty orange water yuck! Last thing you really want to force down when all you want to do is throw up.

Allowing nature to take its course is fine if you have the time to do that, but if all you want to do is just get on that flight home to normality, then 'allowing nature to take its course' is not an option many would choose, especially on a cramped aircraft for the 5 hour flight! Or face the uneviable task of either having to be in hospital in Luxor or finding accommodation until ' nature has taken its course' and you are well enough to travel.